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Friday, September 19, 2008

THE ALL NIGHT WORKERS - WHY DON'T YOU SMILE / DON'T PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET

At the same time that the nascent Velvet Underground was recording their early NYC demos in 1965, Lou Reed and John Cale collaborated (along with people with the names Phillips and Vance) on "Why Don't You Smile" at the tail end of Reed's tenure as a staff writer at Pickwick Records ( a label that specialized in cheap cash in records, aping whatever trend was hot at the time; surf, hot rod, etc). This is a superb record and both sides are really cool, but "Why Don't You Smile" truly achieves a Velvet Underground like drone (sounds a bit like the VU fronting the Righteous Brothers!). "Eggs" is a great soul stomper. The All Night Workers were a real band (not a studio concoction like the other Pickwick/ Reed tracks) from Syracuse, NY.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

This stuff is crazy. I'd never heard of this record! I can feel the Lou but not the Cale on it. Eggs is a great garagey tune; Smile is a little much on the "drone" for my tastes. Thanks for sharing - you've got me checking in to your blog every day.